Apparatus for casting blocks.



G. ATTERBURY.

APPARATUS FOR CASTING BLOCKS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.18. 19H. RENEWED OCT. 29. I915.

Patented Dec. 7, 1915.

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GROSVENOR ATTERBURY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

APPARATUS FOR CASTING BLOCKS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Applioation filed December 18, 1911, Serial No. 666,638. Renewed October 29, 1915. Serial No. 58,730.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, GROSVENOR Amnnnmr, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Casting Blocks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in apparatus for casting blocks which will set or harden, used for building and construction purposes, andthe object of my invention is to secure and produce a more uniform surface on such blocks than has heretofore been possible with the apparatus and methods employed in casting such blocks.

In casting concrete blocks for example, in molds or on smooth hard surfaces, -great difiiculty has been experienced in securing smooth uniform surfaces on the blocks, due to the accumulation of air on the surface on which the block is formed. The air accumulates in bubbles and small patches on the surface of the mold and by preventing the concrete from coming uniformly into contact with the mold causes blisters and unsightly irregularities. l have discovered that if the mold surface is covered with a fabric so woven as to permit the escape of the air, and at the same time prevent the concrete or cementitious material from sinking into its meshes, and thus causing it to be impervious to air, such accumulations of air are prevented and a smooth, uniform surface may be easily obtained free from recesses and blisters caused by air bubbles.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, I have illustrated apparatus embodying my invention and adapted for use in practising my improved method. In this drawing, Figure 1 shows a mold surface covered with a fabric of the kind above referred to, and on which there are two superimposed blocks. Fig. 2 is a detail view and shows one of the frames holding the fabric shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows a fabric applied to one wall of a vertical mold. Referrin in detail to the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the numeral 1 designates an impervious casting surface, on which there is placed the frame 2, holding a fabric 3, on which the block 4 is formed. This fabric may be of any suitable material so long as it is characterized by being pervious to air and substantially impervious to the cementitious material. I have found oiled linen to be very suitable for such a purpose and have also found that very fine woven wire will give good results. As shown in Fig. l, a second layer of fabric in a frame 2 is placed on top of the block 4 and another block 5 cast thereon. The use of the fabric, where blocks are cast superimposed on one another, as shown in this figure, is especially desirable, because without the fabric it is practically impossible to prevent bubbles of air accumulating between the blocks while the material for the upper block is being placed in position.

In the apparatus shown in Fig. 3, the pervious fabric 3 is shown suspended from the elongated bar 6 at the top of the vertical mold 7.

While I have shown only two ways of applying the fabric to mold surfaces, it is obvious that it may be applied in numerous ways and the illustrations given are only examples of two of the preferred applications. 1 have found that where a fibrous fabric, such as linen, is used, there is considerable advantage to be derived from oiling the fabric. This is due to the fact that when oiled, the fabric is not so liable to adhere to the concrete or become saturated with cement and so impervious to air as when it is not oiled.

In practising my invention, the concrete may be placed in the mold against the pervious material in any desired manner and at any desired rate, it being only necessary to so mix the concrete and tamp it in the mold that there will be no voids caused by large particles of the concrete causing voids on the surface of the block. .Any air which may be confined by the concrete, as it is dumped or poured into the mold, will sink into the fabric and travel through the fabric along the surface of the mold until it passes out at the edge of the mold surface.

' l Patented Dec.7,l915.

What I claim as my invention is: tious blocks, a m o1d surface covered with an 1. In an apparatusfor casting cementioil treated .fabmc pervious to air, substantious blocks, an impervious mold surface tially as descrlbed.

covered with a fabric pervious to air and im- GROSVENOR ATTERBURY. 5 pervious to cementitiousmaterial, substan- Witnesses:

tially as described; I G. P. NIGHTINGALE,

2. In an apparatus for casting cementi- JOSEPH P. MARSHALL, 

